This program is totally voluntary and can be accomplished without the aid of your cellular provider.

The program known by the acronym I.C.E. for (In Case of Emergency) was first developed by the East Anglian Ambulance Service in England. The premise of the program is very simple. Cell Phone users are requested to make an entry into their cell phone’s address book with the indicator ICE. This ICE number listed in their cell phone address book should contain the phone number of a next of kin or other person that the subscriber would like to have contacted in the event of an emergency. This entry could be made even more specific and equally helpful by denoting the ICE entry as; ICE MOM, ICE DAD etc. for quicker reference. Subscribers are encouraged to make more than one ICE entry in their address book in the event that one or more entries cannot be reached.

Often people are in possession of their cell phones even when not carrying personal identification as might be the case when involved in athletic activities such as bicycling, running, walking etc. It would also help out police, fire, ambulance, or hospital personnel if someone is involved in an auto-accident and they are unconscious, this gives emergency personnel a resource to reach out to the most important people.

The ICE program concept of sticking this information in your cell phone is not to be a penance or be the be-all-end-all for contact of the next of kin. It’s just an extra thing you can do that doesn’t cost anything.

An additional benefit to the Police would be to provide officers the ability to return found cell phones to their owners when lost. Law Enforcement agencies routinely come into the possession of lost cell phones that are, at times, difficult to return to their owners.